In August, Music Finland and Finpro’s Finnish Lifestyle Asia Growth -program invited a group Korean hip hop professionals to Finland. The guests, rap artist Flowsik, producer Elapse and A&R manager / producer Deekei had sessions with Finnish hip hop producers and artists like Elastinen, Särre and Antti Hynninen, and also took part in EARS On Helsinki conference. Their busy schedule also included meeting Finnish brands and the Korean professionals also took the chance to see a bit of Helsinki.

”This is my second time in Helsinki and I love this place. It’s great to get away from everything and just focus on music. Finland is perfect place for that, since Flowsik is not known here. It’s like a hidden secret music lab for me and my artists” says Deekei.

For rapper Flowsik this was the first time in Finland – and his only complaint was that he would have liked to see more of it.

”This is my first time in Finland but hopefully not last, as there are a lot of talented musicians I loved working with here. Also, I’d like to see Finland outside of Helsinki too. But this trip is not just about making songs. It’s great to know different cultures and build relationships with people” Flowsik mentions.

Deekei agrees that the actual music that comes from the sessions is not always the main thing.

”You get influenced by people just by hanging out with them. You go home with better ideas and create better music in the future”, Deekei states.

The music that was made in these Helsinki sessions is still under production – for example the songs are still missing korean vocal parts at this stage. The timetable for a release can be really long, when big record labels are involved in the process.

”The music sounds great to me already, but everything changes when you put vocals to it. And the release schedule completely depends on who’s coming on board”, Deekei reminds.

Flowsik is confident about the new generation of hip hop producers.

”They all have the same swag, wherever they come from. I’ve done sessions in Helsinki, Amsterdam, Sweden, New York… the younger hip hop generation does the same thing everywhere. Everybody wants to have the current, cutting-edge sound.”

But Elapse also emphasizes the differences:

”Finnish artists have a very different kind of life experience compared to Korean ones. The cultural background is the biggest difference. But the music itself is not very different, many artists have same moods”.